Cook onion in margarine in frying pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Meanwhile prepare gravy. Boil water for stuffing and potatoes. I make the stuffing in a bowl by adding boiling water and margarine. Let sit. Add vegetables to onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are heated through. Stir in prepared gravy, carved turkey, prepared stuffing, and cranberries.

Make mashed potatoes. I omit the margarine, just mixing powdered potatoes and water in the bowl the stuffing was in.

Evenly spread vegetable mixture into 8-inch baking dish, then top with mashed potatoes. Bake 15 minutes or until heated through. Serve, if desired, with additional Gravy.

After work this week Chris and I quickly had dinner and went out looking for owls. I knew a location nearby where some owlets had been spotted so we decided to take a look. It didn’t take long to locate one of the owlets up in a tree watching the trail. We could hear in the trees a Robin making a lot of noise, and occasionally a hoot. We went onto the other side of the treeline and there was an adult Barred Owl hunting. A robin was swooping in and attacking it although the owl pretended not to notice.

After watching the owl for awhile we went back to the owlet, there was then two visible. The mosquitoes were eating us alive so we headed back to the car and safety.

Last night Chris and I went out looking for Owls. We ended up finding what we were looking for and photos will be coming. But it got me thinking how many owls have I seen? How many more do I have left to find? So I am going to make a list and keep track here.

In the morning we took the bus into Paris and got dropped off at the Eiffel tower. We opted not to go to the perfumery in favor of more time in Paris. We walked towards the Eiffel tower to the gift shop. The night before was so rushed I didn’t get to shop! I got keychains and a figurine. Pretty tame shopping if you ask me. Then we walked across the bridge towards the train station. There was a colour run event going on wich reminded me of our last trip to Vegas.

We took the train to the Arc de Triumph and walked the Champs-Élysées. We stopped at Laudee to buy macrons. We got pistachio, lemon passion fruit, raspberry and salted caramel. They were good but I wasn’t a fan of lemon passion fruit and I love passion fruit.

Our next stop was the Luvre where we took some photos of the palace and triangles before hopping on the metro again to head to Notre Dame. We looked around the church then grabbed lunch nearby at a pizza place before returning to take more photos and go inside. Mass was in service when we returned and the organ music was amazing.

After Notre Dame we walked along the Seine river to where the bus picked us up. We went back to the hotel to have a quick nap and change for the evening. The rest of the tour was going to see the Moulin Rouge but we wanted to see more of Paris by night.

The bus left the hotel at 6:30pm and dropped everyone off at the Moulin Rouge. We walked to a nearby church high up on a hill. There was tons of street performers, venders, and views of the city. We then made our way to the eiffle tower again looking for a photo spot. We didn’t find it and I was getting tired again so we headed for the arc de triumph.

Before climbing the arc we stopped at a bar to have dinner and a drink. The food was good and drinks a tad strong for my liking.

When we got to the arc de triumph we found that it was closed. There must have been a private event or something because usually it is open in the evening. We took some photos and then headed back to the hotel for the night. We got in a few minutes before the moulin rouge group.

The drive from Lucerne to Paris took all day. We left at a decent time in the morning and didn’t get into Paris until 8pm. We got checked into our hotel before heading to the hotel resturant for dinner. Dinner was pork chops kinda. They tasted a lot like my marinaded BBQ pork chops but were a cut I didn’t recognize. After dinner we piled onto the bus and they did a nighttime tour of the city. We saw all the major landmarks and got a history of wich famous ruler was responsible. We also saw the place were the Swiss guards were killed.

The tour ended at the eiffle tower. We waited a few minutes and were treated to the light show that happens every hour. After the lights we got in line for tickets. We decided to climb the stairs up but didn’t realize we only had 1-1/2 hours till closing. My legs were shot but we made it up to level two and into the lineup for the elevator to the very top. It was rushed and we didn’t get to see anything on the first two levels. From the top we got to see all of Paris lit up. It was quite pretty but missing the best thing, the eiffle tower.

We quickly headed back down to catch the bus to the hotel. It was past midnight when we got in and I was exhausted!

Today we drove from Italy to Switzerland so we had to get up early to make the drive across Italy. On the highway between Italy and Switzerland there is a tunnel through the mountain, it’s 16km long! It really didn’t seem that long when we drove through it but I didn’t try and hold my breath. Once on the other side the country felt like home. The trees the mountains made it felt a lot like BC except that the houses looked odd. When we got to Lake Lucern we stopped in a town called Stans where they have a train and gondola that takes you up to Mt Stanserhorn. We took the train and gondola up the mountain but it was cloudy so the views from the top were non-existent. Some people from the group did get to see snow for the first time and were quite excited. Also a local saw me and my camera and took me down some trail to see a black grouse. I guess birders can spot other birders regardless of what country you are in. We then made it down the mountain and drove another half hour into Lucern.

There we went to the Swiss watch and knife store to look around. Lucern was the town I was looking the most forward to and had a whole route mapped out for us. We started off going to see the Musseg wall and the Zyt clock tower. The wall was built in 1386 and is mostly intact. The clock in the Zyt tower chimes every hour one minute before all the other clocks in the city. We climbed the tower and saw the inner workings of the clock, then we walked along the wall to another tower where we got back onto the street. We then headed towards the Lion Monument. The monument was carved by Bertel Thorvaldsen for the soldiers that died protecting the French Royal family. Mark Twain described the Lion of Lucerne as the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world, and I must agree. Of all the paintings and sculptures that we saw in Europe this one was the best. It is huge and so detailed. Its a must see. (Read the PDF here for more info: http://www.luzern.com/en/lion-monument )

After the Lion we headed to the lake and walked along the shore back towards the Chapel Bridge. There were swans along the shore so as it started to rain we went and took photos of them. Chris loured them closer and I got some photos. At times they were to close for the camera to focus and they were making weird noises. It then started pouring so we hurried back to town to get souvenirs and meet back with the group.

The hotel we stayed in that night was an old jail, it was a fairly good hotel by Europe standards and I wasn’t weirded out by being in a jail at all. For dinner we went to an Asian Fondu Restaurant. We didn’t get any fondu but got a bunch of weird little dishes to pass around and try. For dessert we got slices of orange.

Today we finally got to go into the city of Venice. After getting in late the night before we had the whole day in the city. We woke up at a decent time and took a train to the islands. Then got a private boat ride to the main square. From there we did a walking tour with a local guide who explained the sites between Piazzo San Marco and the Rialto Bridge.
After the walking tour we went to a glass shop to see a glass blowing demonstration. Everything was really expensive. Like $120 euros for a glass expensive so we didn’t get anything. We then went and explored the city.
We took a lift up the campanile or bell tower in the square for views of Venice. It was weird that you couldn’t see any of the canals but it makes sense since they are so narrow. We then walked and saw the bridge of sighs and a couple church’s before we did a gondola ride with the tour. The ride was ok. Nothing to special and our gondolier was to busy talking to the gondolier in front of us to really answer questions or anything. I think the views were just as nice from the bridges. The city was quite busy for the first half of the day due to cruise ships but in the afternoon and evening it quieted down.

The tour did an optional meal for dinner but we opted to get our own food so we headed over the Rialto bridge to a quiet neighborhood. This place had cover and service charges included. You can get charged a small fortune to sit at a resturant in Venice. We both had one of the specials which was a pasta (I had ravioli and Chris lasagna) and a chicken cutlet, Chris also had French fries. It was pretty good. Defiantly a step up from most of our Italian meals.

This morning we were on the coach at 8:45 so we could drive from Munich Germany to Venice Italy. After 3 hours we arrived in Innsbruck Austria and stopped for a few hours to have lunch. The town is very small and quiet but also very cute. Our first stop was Swarovski crystals which started in a town nearby. We looked at all the expensive art, scopes, and jewelry before leaving with a small Christmas ornament. We then went to a schnapps shop to try some locally made schnapps. I got a sweet apricot one to bring home.

We then stopped at Piano where we had lunch. It’s a little cafe on the main drag. We all tried an Almdudler, which is an Austrian pop, and found that it tasted very similar to ginger ale but with more of a citrus flavor. I had potatoes with bacon and cheese. It was like super amazing breakfast hash browns covered in cordon blu stuffing. Chris had schnitzel which he says is very similar to what we get at home.

After lunch we went to find me a key chain and stopped at the strudel shop to get strudels. We haven’t had a chance to eat them yet since we’re planning to save them for later. We then got back on the bus to finish driving to Venice.

Our hotel is a ways out of the city and typically Italian. We got in pretty late so we dumped out stuff in the room and went to dinner. It was blah. They started with lettuce with no dressing that was super bitter. Then lasagna that had very little meat or sauce. The noodles were so over cooked they were indistinguishable from the cheese. Then we had ice cream. One was lemon which is super popular but very strong and not yellow so it catches you by surprise. We then went to bed since we will spend a full day in Venice tomorrow.

In the morning we had breakfast in the hotel then met at the shop next door where we saw a beer stein demonstration. The shops then opened for us and we could buy beer steins, coco clocks and Birkenstock. I got a pair of Birkenstock before we took the coach from St. Goar to Munich.

In Munich we did a bicycle tour of the city. It was 3hr long but we stopped often and had lunch at a beer garden in one of the parks. We shared a pork knuckle, potatoes and a pretzel which were really good. Chris tried some German beer while I had a spritzi which is fanta and cola mixed together. I really liked my pop but Chris’ beer was pretty awful, he didn’t think so though. This was also the cheapest place in the city to buy beer glasses so Chris did the rest of the tour with two 1L beer glasses in the basket on his bike. When the tour ended we walked down to the beer house but decided to go inside later and instead went looking for a key chain. We wandered around for awhile but it was so late everything was closed, plus the glasses were heavy. So we went back to the beer house and in their gift shop I found my key chain.

The second day after breakfast we went back into Amsterdam. Our goal was to see the Anne Frank house, I Amsterdam sign and some churches. The tour bus dropped us off at Anne Frank were we immediately got in line, we were told the line would be about 20 min. Some 2.5 hours later we made it inside but due to time we had to rush thru the museum. I was able to stop in the bookstore and pickup a copy of the diary of Anne Frank.

On the way back to the bus we grabbed some stroopwafels, sausage bun things, and a key-chain. Then we were back on the bus for the drive to St.Goar. Along the drive we saw many castles on the hillsides. Since we spent time in the morning in Amsterdam we got into St.Goar around dinner time. Dinner was at the hotel and was pork roast, spetzle, and gravy. It was good but not a very large meal, also the server was really sticky about manners. If you looked at your phone or didn’t say thank you he gave you attitude.

After dinner we walked around St.Goar, it was very quiet. We saw next to no one and all you could hear was the bell tower at the church. On one street as we went back to the hotel there was a class in a nearby building playing polka music. After so many big cities it almost seemed like we were the only people alive.

The hotel room was very simple. Cream walls and sheets, the bed was two twins pushed together with two comforters folded on top. No top sheet. The beds were new but it was odd.